Deliver Magazine recently published an article on testing the success of direct mailing methods. Sharon M. Goldman evaluates changes made to the test, mistakes to avoid in your method and strategy to make your campaign a success.
“When marketers discuss how direct mail fits into their overall campaign efforts, it is often described as the “workhorse” — dependable, reliable and effective; the channel that guarantees a tactile piece of marketing material will reach a prospect’s mailbox. For Kurt Konow, a Chicago marketing strategist at Ricoh, a global technology company, that is certainly true.
Konow says that direct mail remains a vital component of every marketing campaign he works on. But as the economy has struggled over the last few years and budgets have been squeezed, marketers like Konow are more pressed than ever to prove the viability of direct marketing and its many channels. And marketers these days, more than ever, are rising to the test. Literally.
In an age of multiple mailings, integrated campaigns and shifting audiences, some marketers are finding it more essential than ever to test the efficacy of their marketing. And they are leveraging a wide array of tools to figure out just how well their campaigns are faring and how to refine those campaigns along the way.
“It’s more important than ever to show the physical piece is still bringing in returns, that you’re getting people to respond and converting people with your message and offer — because it’s often the first thing to be eliminated,” says Konow, who estimates that he sends out a half-dozen direct mail campaigns each month to both B-to-C and B-to-B prospects.”